Harry stared incredulously at the woman claiming to be his grandmother.
"You are my grandmother?" he asked slowly, his disbelief glaringly obvious on his face and tone.
"Yes. That's what I said." the red-haired woman looked at him with a quirk on her lips.
"Who're you?"
The woman let out a snort as she flipped her red hair behind her shoulders snottily.
"Please don't behave like a mentally challenged idiot in my presence Harry. It's very difficult for me to see someone carrying my blood act like a buffoon." the red-haired woman said, stepping closer to Harry. "As for who I am? I already told you. I'm Perenelle Flamel, your grandmother."
"Perenelle Flamel is dead and you are not related to me. My grandmother was..."
"I'm sure you have all kinds of notions that you and your mother are born from some unamusing muggles. But the truth is you carry my blood in your veins, Harry. The only way to prove my claim is through a blood test. So..."
Perenelle sliced open her palm and let a few drops of blood into a glass vial.
"Here. Take it." she held out the vial.
Harry looked at the vial dubiously before taking the offered vial of blood into his custody.
"But... you can't be my grandmother." Harry insisted. "If you somehow were my grandmother, where were you all these years?"
"Oh, is that it? You're going to play the lonely orphan card, are you? I thought you were better than this boy. Was I wrong?" Perenelle scoffed, looking disinterestedly at Harry. "If you should know, I offered your mother the means to save herself and her family. She rejected me, her own mother out of some idealistic nonsense."
Seeing the confused look on Harry's face Perenelle explained further.
"Your mother wanted to 'take a stand' rather than taking her rightful place by my side. She chose to trust in her friends and Dumbledore. You see Harry, your mother was what most people would term as someone with a 'good heart'. But here is the thing most people don't tell you about these good-hearted people." Perenelle leaned down looking into Harry's eyes while placing her hand on his shoulder. "Good-hearted people seldom live their lives to the fullest. Your mother chose the path of Dumbledore and therefore you were also put on the same path. When you decided to break away from that path, I helped you by pushing Damien and my allies to your side. So, a thank you would be nice."
Harry stared at the woman confusedly at the woman struggling to comprehend all that he heard and learned from this short conversation.
"But Dumbledore said the Flamels were dead."
"Ah, yes." Perenelle scoffed sardonically. "Let me guess. That buffoon used that little incident with the stone as an excuse to extoll the virtues of smiling happily and embracing death."
Harry nodded numbly.
"Ha! Why am I not surprised?" Perenelle cackled amusedly. "Ideologues are so dumb and easy to predict. Let me ask you something, Harry. Who do you think is more susceptible to being tricked? An old buffoon who cannot even properly finish a war despite his vast magical power or an immortal who has lived in this world for centuries triumphing over many dark lords, idiot wizards and greedy muggles."
"You tricked Dumbledore." Harry said, eyeing the woman warily.
"Guilty as charged." Perenelle let out a laugh.
"But…but why? If you were my grandmother, why didn't you raise my mother? Why did you abandon her with some muggles?" Harry asked.
"I didn't abandon her with just some random muggle family. I left her with her father's family."
Harry was so confused right now.
"You left her with the family of Nicholas Flamel?" he asked confusedly.
"No, dummy. I left your mother in the custody of her father. Your grandfather Harry is Jonathan Evans and he brought up your mother in the Evans household."
"I'm so confused." Harry muttered.
"One day, I'll explain everything to you in detail when you've earned my trust. In the meantime, I extend to you the same offer that I offered your mother. Join me. Stand by my side and I'll lend you my power, knowledge and resources to destroy your enemies."
Harry looked searchingly at Perenelle's green eyes.
"You'll help me deal with Voldemort and his Death Eaters?" he asked.
"Yes, and any other enemy that stands in your way."
"What do you want in return?" Harry frowned.
"The same that I offer you, Harry. To stand by me when I need you. To use your power, knowledge and resources when I call on you." Perenelle smiled, patting him on the shoulder before leading him away from the balcony and towards the ballroom. "But you don't have to decide immediately. Think through my offer for however long you want. We'll talk again, soon. But till then keep my identity to yourself. Now, go and enjoy the party. I'm sure young Daphne is most eager to get you back."
Harry forced a smile as Daphne came towards him looping her hands into his.
"Where did my father take you?"
"I was just talking to…" Harry trailed off as he couldn't find Perenelle behind him or anywhere nearby for that matter.
"What?" Daphne asked, her blue eyes boring into his own questioningly.
"Never mind. You up for a dance?" he quirked an eyebrow as a new song was being played by the band.
"Thought you'd never ask." said Daphne, dragging him off to the dance floor.
XXXXXXXXX
"Did my mother speak anything about her parents with you Sirius?" Harry asked, poking his fork at the vegetable salad Kreacher prepared for them.
"Ah, I'm afraid not. The only time I saw Lily's parents were during her wedding and your aunt's wedding. All I know about them are their names, Jonathan and Emma Evans." said Sirius, making a face as Kreacher dumped more veggies into his plate.
Harry rolled his eyes at Sirius' compulsive need for meat. His godfather had been gobbling up beef and chicken like an addict, especially after the French cuisine at the Delacour manor doing a number on Sirius' taste buds. Not that it seems to have dissuaded the guy from acting like a lovesick puppy around Brigitte.
"I'm sorry I can't be of much help with Lily's parents, Harry. You see Lily always kept stuff like that away from the rest of us except for James. She couldn't be blamed though. There was a war going on and the Death Eaters were targeting Muggleborns and their families. I know Lily's parents moved out of their home for a time at some point but other than that I know almost nothing. I was busy with Auror duty and the war. Lily and James later went into hiding after you were born so…"
"I understand." Harry nodded, a little disappointed at learning nothing useful.
"You know, your aunt knows more about them. Maybe she'll speak up if we ask nicely enough." Sirius suggested.
"Not bloody likely. She'll likely try her best to murder me rather than share stories of the family if I show up before her." Harry scoffed.
"What made you suddenly interested in Lily's parents?"
"Nothing. I was just curious that's all." Harry shrugged.
Harry looked thoughtfully into his plate contemplating the merits of sharing what happened at the Greengrass manor. But he held off the urge as he was stepping into unknown territory. The Flamels were a powerful couple as evidenced by their more than seven-century-long survival in this world. He felt like he had to be extra cautious when it comes to the Alchemist couple. He also found it interesting that Perenelle Flamel only claimed he was related to her but not to her husband. He had gone over the conversation again and again in his head last night and nowhere did she say he was the grandson of Nicholas Flamel. The fact that Perenelle Flamel also said she left Lily Evans in the care of her father which most assuredly meant the muggle father of Lily Evans rather than Nicholas Flamel.
So, a question emerged in his mind.
Why?
Why did Perenelle Flamel choose to have a child with a no-name muggle like Jonathan Evans? Was there a rift between the two immortal alchemists or was there something more going on that he was missing?
'I suppose I first have to see whether Perenelle Flamel was speaking the truth.' Harry thought.
"Oh, I almost forgot. Remus is coming over to have a talk with us." Sirius said out of the blue, making Harry blink a few times.
"On Dumbledore's orders?" he raised an eyebrow.
"Possibly." Sirius nodded.
"Hmm. Might be interesting to learn what he has to say." Harry muttered before focusing on the food.
"So… you are okay with Remus coming over?" Sirius asked tentatively.
"Sure. So long as he minds his business and stays in his lane rather than suddenly finding an ounce of concern about how I choose to live my life after fourteen years of complete apathy. Then yeah. I'm okay with his visit." Said harry, taking to his feet. "I'll be going to Diagon Alley. I need to buy some stuff."
"Wait, Harry. The werewolves just launched attacks all over the country. I don't think it is a good idea for you to go out in the open. Send Dobby."
Harry didn't like that one bit.
"You can still go visit Fleur but no public areas where you are exposed too much. That's the only deal you are going to get kid.' Sirius said, wagging his fork at Harry.
"Fine." Harry sighed. "But you are going to start training me for Animagus transformation."
"Okay, kid. If you think you can keep up with the training then yeah. I'll start it today." said Sirius, only to explode on Kreacher who chose that moment to sneakily dump more vegetable salad into Sirius' plate.
XXXXXX
Harry looked at the innocent-looking sheet of parchment with a critical eye.
'It does not look like much.' he thought, prodding the parchment with the tip of his wand. There was a faint magical presence in the parchment but other than that he didn't get much from the parchment.
"Thanks, Dobby. You did well." Harry patted his elvish friend's head who grinned before popping away.
The Family Tree finder kit Dobby bought from Diagon Alley was not exactly a professional kit that can trace generations of family members. But for Harry's use, it suited him just fine. The parchment could only trace his father's side of the family but since he has Perenelle's blood he was hoping the parchment could trace his mother's side of the family as well.
"Okay. Here it goes." Harry muttered.
He pricked his thumb and smeared the drop of blood on the top of the parchment. Then he picked up the glass vial containing Perenelle's blood and poured it at the bottom of the parchment as suggested by the instructions in the kit. Black lines began to appear with his name at the top.
First, the names of his father and mother began to appear. There were no hidden surprises there as the names clearly mentioned his mother's maiden name as Evans. Then the names of his grandparents on his father's side began to appear. There were no nasty surprises there as well as the names of Fleamont and Euphemia Potter were clearly written. However, he found it interesting to note that his grandmother's maiden name was Rowle.
'Rowle, huh? That's interesting. I'll have to ask Sirius about them.' Harry thought.
For a minute, the parchment remained unresponsive stopping at the name of his grandparents. Then, slowly a black line began to trace out from the name of Lily Potter nee Evans. The first name that came out at the end of the line gave him a nasty shock. Instead of Jonathan Evans, the name that was written on the parchment was Jon Gaunt.
"Okay. Now that's not going to be peachy." he muttered, his eyes zeroing in on the name Gaunt.
The Gaunt family's name finding itself in his bloodline was rather shocking. Oh, he was not surprised he was in some way related to the Gaunts as old Pureblood families have intermarried for generations. So, he was totally expecting to be related to Voldemort in some form. But he never expected that particular blood relation to be so close to home.
Before getting transmigrated into the wizarding world, he was a fan of Harry Potter books. As a fan, he had certain theories of his own when it came to the popular characters and events in the Harry Potter lore. So, one of his leading theories about Harry's ability to communicate with snakes was not just based on the Horcrux but rather because of the Slytherin blood in his veins. The reason he believed that theory was that the Horcrux never took over Harry despite being a baby. So, whatever protection Lily Potter's sacrifice gave to Harry was powerful enough to ward off Voldemort's soul from influencing or crushing Harry's psyche. If the protection was strong enough to keep the soul shard at bay, then it should not have given Harry any powers that were not already accessible to Harry.
It was not a perfect theory but he thought it was something that could not be easily written off, especially considering Harry was a descendant of Ignotus Peverell. There was no reason to write off that the descendants of Cadmus Peverell, which was the Gaunts, intermarried with their sister branch namely the Potters thereby giving Slytherin blood to the Potters. Or the ability of Parseltongue was kept a secret by the Potters to not get associated with dark magic and attract more attention when they were already keeping one of the famed artefacts of the Peverell brothers in their custody. His theory, however, only makes more sense when the reaction of the Sorting hat in Harry's first year was also taken into consideration.
Anyway, it seems he was nearly correct. Harry did get Slytherin blood but not from the Potters but from his mother's side.
Harry's attention was brought back to the parchment as another name joined beneath his mother's name.
Perenelle Cealliagh, the black ink formed itself near the name of his grandfather.
"Perenelle Cealliagh. So, that's your true name." Harry muttered, noticing the distinct Gaelic touch in the name.
Harry jerked his head as the glass vial containing Perenelle Flamel's blood suddenly let out a hiss before breaking down into a pile of sand. The blood in the vial disappeared into thin air leaving no trace. Even the blood on the parchment began to disappear as did the names that were displayed on the parchment.
"Okay. So, I'm an immortal alchemist's grandson. How about that!"
XXXXXXX
Voldemort kept an ear out as Lucius narrated the recruitment drives and the effects of the werewolf raids that happened across the country. His eyes, however, trailed towards his budding new supporters from the pureblood families. There was Corban Yaxley's son Robert Yaxley standing silently to the side of the room. The man was one of his less prominent Death Eaters, one of the unmarked ones he was forced to elevate thanks to the death of Corban Yaxley. The skills of the father never touched upon the son in this particular case. Corban Yaxley was an exceptional spy in the ministry and someone he was hoping to make good use of to sow chaos and disinformation after his restoration. Sadly, that plan went up in smoke all thanks to Potter.
The other gaggle of Death Eaters that were gathered in the room were not worthy of much importance like Throffin Rowle, Martin Freidman and many others. Most of them were his unmarked followers and the years after his fall had certainly not made these good-for-nothing wizards worthy of his mark. But in his present situation, he was forced to depend on these buffoons until he could break his elite troops from Azkaban prison. However, he was pleasantly surprised to learn that Evan Rosier was still alive and remained uncaptured.
'That was to be expected though.' Voldemort thought.
He had managed to fake Evan's death to send his trusted Death Eater abroad for recruiting and spreading the word about his good deeds. That was just one of the missions Evan Rosier was sent off. The main mission however remained between the two of them. Looking back, he found that particular mission to be useless and a waste of time. That was why he had called upon Evan once again. Evan had delivered many of his useful recruits including Barty Crouch Jr. Having the man by his side would undoubtedly bolster his troops.
His attention went back to Lucius' report as the man finally came around to the Ministry.
"The attacks by the werewolves have emboldened the factions in Wizengamot to push for more stringent actions against the werewolf population. The DMLE has taken the brunt of the blame for not keeping the werewolf population under surveillance. For now, the Ministry is not associating the werewolf attacks with our Lord's rise but Dumbledore's supporters are trying their best to frame the attacks that way."
"Are they successful Lucius?" Voldemort silkily asked.
"My...my lord?" Lucius stuttered.
"Are Dumbledore's supporters managing to convince the Wizengamot to connect the attack with my rise?" Voldemort asked, his red eyes burning into Lucius' own great eyes.
"Of course not, my lord. The Undersecretary of Fudge is a woman passionate about eradicating werewolves and other creatures from our society. She has been instrumental in shifting the narrative to favour our side. The Ministry firmly believes the werewolves are acting off their own accord." Lucius reported, a trickle of sweat snaking down from his brow as he faced the intense scrutiny of the Dark Lord.
"Good work, Lucius. I expect the narrative continues to remain favourable to our cause."
"Yes, my lord." Lucius nodded.
"Good. Now, tell me more about what our auror friends in the DMLE are up to with the investigation of the graveyard." Voldemort asked.
"My contacts in the DMLE suggest they are dropping the whole investigation for the time being. They collected several pieces of evidence and secured them in the department. But other than that, the investigation does not seem to make any gains. Fudge is also content to let things be by blaming it all on Crouch and Pettigrew."
"I see." Voldemort looked coldly at Lucius making the elder Malfoy gulp.
"You are dismissed, Lucius." Voldemort coldly said before retiring to his personal chambers in the dungeons.
He strode confidently into the prison, his black robes billowing behind him. His red eyes fell on the innumerable children he had spirited away from several muggle orphanages across the countryside while the aurors were too busy dealing with a werewolf outbreak. The children inside the prison flinched as they saw him and backed away from the iron bars in fright.
'Like a pack of rabbits seeing a wolf.' he thought amusedly.
With a flick of his wand, the iron bars came loose and he magically pulled a screaming child into his hand. A quick stunner made the child fall silent. Waving his wand, the iron bars came crashing down making the remaining children in the prison cry for help in fright.
'A sacrifice in blood and soul.' he thought, eyeing the unconscious child floating before him.
"Soon, I'll get rid of Lily Potter's corrosive magic with the sacrifice of a hundred souls and their lifeblood. Even protections of old magic will not hold power over the dark magic that I'll unleash." Voldemort muttered, laughing coldly.
His laughter echoed through the dungeon as he made his way towards the ritual chamber.